The Ultimate Guide to Streaming Music Apps (Including Podcasts)

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“You turn into what you tune in to.”

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I first saw this quote on a church sign of all places. As someone who grew up in the church, I usually find these sayings to be less than helpful. But this one gave me pause.

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When we consider all the voices that are vying for our attention, music can be a powerful influence. And tweens and teens love listening to music! (We all do, don't we?) Therefore, finding a clean streaming music service is important for families.

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Quick Observation: Explicit Content is Everywhere

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Marilyn Manson said, “Music is the strongest form of magic” (you don’t have to like him – it’s just a powerful quote).

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We were shocked how many of the most popular songs have explicit content. On YouTube Music, at the time this post was originally created, nearly 75% of the Top 100 Songs in the United States had the little “E” for explicit next to their titles.

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And although most streaming music services like Spotify, Apple, and Pandora have "clean music" toggles, even with the explicit filter on, most users can still see album covers and song titles. For example, in Spotify, with the “Allow explicit content” toggled off, a search for “sex” showed the podcasts below. And erasing recent searches is too easy (read on).

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So, this leads us to a statement – it’s impossible for a parent to 100% prevent their child from finding explicit music online in the most popular music services. Gapp Music is the only solutions, but keep reading so you can understand how each music service works.

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Other quick observations:

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• All streaming music apps below are available for both Android and iOS.
• Family Plans cost anywhere from $14.99 to $19.99+ depending on the service.

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How Do Streaming Music Apps Compare?

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There are more streaming music apps than what we cover in this article, but these are the most popular ones.

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Amazon Music App Review:

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13+ Apple App Store Rating, Teen (13+) Google Play Store Rating

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If you have Amazon Prime, you have access to Prime Music with 2 million songs, thousands of playlists and stations programmed by Amazon’s music experts, and thousands of podcasts. This is the manner by which most families access Amazon Music.

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Amazon’s pricing:

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• Prime Music: (2 million songs) FREE with Prime membership.
• Amazon Music Unlimited: (60 million songs) $10.99 USD/month or $109 USD/year to play anything on-demand, if you’re a Prime member. Otherwise, Amazon Music Unlimited is $11.99/month without Prime.
• Amazon Family Plan is $19.99 USD monthly for 6 separate accounts.
• Single Device (Echo) Account: $4.99/month.
• Student Plans: $5.99/month.

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Amazon Music Parental Controls and Limitations:

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• Here’s how to find the "block explicit music" filter on all devices where you might be using the Amazon App.
• ‍Unfortunately, Amazon’s podcasts suffer from the same issues as Spotify, Apple, and Pandora. Explicit podcast content isn’t fully blocked/removed (we share more about a solution for podcasts near the end of this post). Even you're blocked from listening, you can read the mature description.
• Most families will listen to Amazon’s streaming music through an Echo, Dot or Dot Kid’s Edition – read our detailed Echo review for how to control explicit content. Chris’ family (CEO), uses multiple Echo’s + Amazon Music Unlimited with his family. For tweens, using an Echo with parental controls enabled is a great testing ground to see how they handle an internet-ready device in their bedroom that can double as an alarm clock.

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Apple Music App Review:

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4+ Apple App Store Rating, T (Teen) Google Play Store Rating. Click here to see the most recent Apple Music pricing.

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Apple Music Parental Controls and Limitations:

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• Whether it’s an iPhone or Mac, controlling explicit content is quite easy using Screen Time parental controls. Follow this path: Settings -> Screen Time -> Content & Privacy Restrictions -> App Store, Media, Web, and Games -> Music, Podcasts, News Fitness -> set to Clean (see our Master iPhone Guide).
• But explicit content persists: Explicit album art is still shown and like Spotify, Apple Music stuggles with "auto-complete" issues. For example, a distraught mom alerted us to what Apple Music showed her young daughter, who searched for MOAN(A), but before completing the word with the "A," was shown explicit "moaning" content in the search results.

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For instructions regarding Apple Music on Android, read Apple’s support article.

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Pandora Music App Review:

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13+ Apple App Store rating, T (Teen) Google Play Store rating. Click here to see the most recent Pandora's pricing.

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Pandora Music Parental Controls and Limitations:

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Pandora is popular. But, it only filters explicit language on radio stations, and doesn’t block anything in podcasts (see end of post for a podcast solution!). Even then, it’s not a parental control – kids can easily change the explicit music toggle in their account.

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Here is an excerpt from Pandora’s own FAQ’s:

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Something to keep in mind is that the Explicit Content filter removes explicit language only, and only for radio stations. Your stations may still play songs that encounter adult themes, situations, or suggestive album artwork, and on-demand content like albums, podcasts and playlists will not be filtered automatically.

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This is a significant limitation, since on-demand content is the main purpose of buying a subscription to a music streaming service. We don't recommend Pandora for families searching for a clean music option.

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Spotify App Review:

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13+ Apple App Store rating, T (Teen) Google Play Store rating. Click here to see the most recent Spotify Premium’s pricing.

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Spotify Parental Controls and Limitations:

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Spotify is arguably the most popular streaming music app. We have a full Spotify app review. It's also shadow social media, which will become more obvious as you read this Spotify review.

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Blocking explicit content is explained very clearly on Spotify’s website and in our PYE app review, but, like Pandora, this toggle can be easily changed by whomever is logged in. The only exception is if you have a Spotify Family Account. As the account owner, you can disable explicit songs for specific family members on the Spotify Family account.

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A significant limitation is that even with the “remove” explicit toggle activated, explicit playlists, short videos, and podcasts are partially accessible. The podcasts might be blocked from playing, but the title and description can still be read. Remember the screen shot at the beginning? That was a Spotify search, even though “remove explicit content” was toggled on. As a counter balance to this, the "Recents" section shows what has been listened to and can't be deleted. We recommend parents who allow Spotify to inspect the "Recent" list periodically. But this doesn't stop a child from reading the explicit titles and descriptions, and keeping out of "Recents."

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Spotify also has short, vertical videos like TikTok or Reels. They are called "Spotify Clips." Artists get to highlight a few seconds of video to play when listening to their song and these can't be turned off.

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Spotify does make it easy to report songs that you think should be labeled as explicit by tapping the 3 dots next to the song.

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Finally, Spotify now allows users to send short messages to each other and comment on content (comments only work on podcast episodes, not music tracks). Messaging is a significant doorway for interactions that parents can't control. Users need to be age 16+, so if you have a Family account, or if a child is logged in outside of a Family account, ensure they're birthday is accurate (if a child). Or parents have also intentionally given birthdays < age 16 for their teens ages 16+ to keep the messaging feature turned off. Here's how messaging works:

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• When listening to a song, podcast, or audiobook in the Now Playing View, tap the share icon, select a friend, and hit send.
• If it's the first time messaging a friend, they need to accept the message request.
• Once a message request is accepted, friends can react with emojis, send texts, and seamlessly share Spotify content back and forth.
• Access Messages by going to your profile photo in the top left corner.

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It's worth noting that friends can be added in Spotify by searching their name and select the user you wish to follow. Tap or click Follow on their profile to connect with them. Friends can also share a "friend follow" link via a text message, which allows friends to connect with each other on Spotify. Users can remove followers, but unless they block them, anyone can refollow anyone else.

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One perk to using Spotify is that it can be monitored by Bark on Android, iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Chromebook. Bark monitors the lyrics in your child’s recently played songs and analyzes words for potential issues.

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Spotify Kids App Review:

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4+ Apple App Store rating, E (Everyone) Google Play Store rating. Spotify Kids pricing comes with the Premium Family subscription (6 accounts).

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Spotify Kids Parental Controls and Limitations:

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FINALLY! A music streaming app designed with young ears in mind! Spotify Kids has more than 8,000 songs and 125+ playlists and has two age-based options (ages 0-6 or 5-12) for curated content.

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The app has bedtime stories, top hits, suggested channels, and a searchable library. Account creation includes setting up a 4-digit code to get access to the “Grown Ups” section of the app. Here you will find the Listening History of each child. If you find a song that you don’t think is appropriate for your son or daughter, you just tap the block icon. To unblock the title, just tap that same icon again.

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There are still a few PG-13+ titles and albums in the age 5-12 category, but it’s so much better than the other popular music streaming services. The drawback is thatit feels too juvenile for tweens, and lacks enough titles for some kids. Gabb Music might be a better options, so keep reading!

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YouTube Music Review:

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13+ Apple App Store rating, T (Teen) Google Play Store rating. Click here to see the most recent YouTube Music's pricing.

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YouTube Music Parental Controls and Limitations:

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If you have Restricted Mode set for YouTube, then YouTube Music will block all music with the explicit label. It’s far from perfect but it’s that simple. Unless you’re using a parental control solution to force Restricted Mode (like, for example, a Gryphon router), the Restricted Mode toggle can be easily turned off by any kid.

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Restricted Mode also disables comments, which might be important for YouTube Music as they are testing a comment feature.

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YouTube settings enabled within Family Link (Google's parental controls), are also applied to YouTube Music. It can be tricky to manage YouTube and set up Family Link. Here our step-by-step guides for both:

• Ultimate Guide to YouTube for Caregivers
• Android / Family Link Set Up Guide

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Gabb Music Provides a Clean Music Option!

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Gabb Wireless (they make device for kids!) has a clean, streaming music service. You can add the Gabb Music app to your existing Gabb Phone (Z2) or the new Gabb Phone Plus for a small, monthly charge. Gabb Music is also now a stand-alone app! This allows anyone, even non-Gabb Phone customers, to enjoy a cleaner music option. Gabb's marketing claims: “hits without the explicits”.

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Additional Information about Gabb Music for Families

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• There isn't a family plan, so unlike Apple Music or Spotify Family Plans, each child using Gabb Music would need their own, separate subscription (Gabb told us they hopeto add a family plan option soon).
• We like how parents can see their child's listening history by going to the "My Music" tab, then selecting "Listening History." Parents can also view any playlists, saved, or liked music on the "My Music" page as well.
• Gabb Music is designed to be safe out-of-the-box with no parental controls needed. So, there are no parent dashboards or anything similar.

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Use code PYE (we’re affiliates) if you decide to purchase anything from Gabb. You can read more about Gabb Music on their website!

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We also Found a Clean Podcast Option!

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Across most of the music streaming services listed above (with the exception of Gabb), podcasts are a weak-spot. Even when explicit podcasts are disabled, kids can see a ton of inappropriate content.
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However, we were recently contacted by the creator of Gertrude AM. It's currently only available on Apple (iPhones and iPads), Apple only) and uses a simple "gate" around podcasts. Amy search requires a 6-digit pin. Almost ANY podcast is discoveralble, even inappropriate podcasts, but they can't even be searched unless a passcode is entered. This means, theoretically, parents are involved in everything. During our testing, podcasts loaded slowly, and with the pin, inappropriate podcasts can be discovered, but this could be an option for very involved parents.

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Streaming Music Bottom Line:

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Other than Gabb, the popular music streaming apps have hobbible content controls. This doesn't mean they con't work for any family. Highly involved parents, using a Spotify Family account, who periodically inspect the actual Spority app on a child's phone, can be succesful. But many want something less time consuming, which is where Gabb Music provides amazing relief.

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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